ePetition - More space for walking & cycling during Covid-19
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ePetition details
More space for walking & cycling during Covid-19
A council committee has recently agreed that council officers will urgently ‘explore’ how the ‘Local Transport Plan’ can be made ‘more flexible’ to allow widening of footpaths and improve the city’s cycle network etc. These however could be longer-term in the making. The residents of the city now need to make sure that the council follow up on this exploration to bring tangible, fast and vital change in response to the urgent pandemic needs. We are advised it is important the council continue to see how important this issue is for residents.
These temporary changes are low cost, fast and easy to implement
(other cities are doing so in just a few days). Life-saving, injury
preventing, economy and health enhancing measures. These will
benefit the whole community, giving equal, safe, physically
distanced access for walking and cycling areas to all people
including children, elders, disabled and women.
Confidence to walk and cycle come from having areas to do so
safely. We want space to keep everyone safe, including those who
find it hard or impossible to walk (disabled people and those with
limited mobility frequently use bicycles as mobility aids). Keeping
people healthy mentally and physically, as well as able to safely
access key work and essentials, makes social, health and economic
sense. There must be equally safe space for cargo, tricycle and
other specially adapted bikes.
Women undertake the majority of unpaid work (approx. 75% averaging
4.5 hours per day). They make up over 75% of the NHS workforce too.
It is well documented that they and others would cycle more when
there are segregated, wide enough cycle lanes to do so. They also
walk more to undertake multiple care and/or work trips per day.
Women and all key workers need safe cycling to access work at low
cost and save time too. Enabling this safe access is important to
our economy and community.
There is not enough room for pedestrians or cyclists to physically
distance currently. This is a key opportunity for temporary
measures that could be piloted for potential permanent solutions.
If we don’t do this FAST we will end up like Wuhan in China
with a three-fold increase of car use post lockdown easing.
It’s great that Madeira Drive is temporarily closed but
it’s just a small first step and we urgently need more city
wide.
Council Officers are best placed to plan and implement these
changes. ‘Pedal People’ Brighton charity
(pedalpeople.org.uk) does not want to limit the petition to too
many specifics so adds the following as initial suggestions for
consideration:
1. Make the existing seafront cycle path one way west (Hove Lagoon)
to east (Black Rock). Add a painted segregated east to west cycle
path on the road next to it. Add traffic calming measures or make
the whole section 20mph for motorised vehicles.
2. East Brighton motorised-traffic-free access route for
pedestrians and cyclists to Madeira Drive.
3. Central Brighton traffic calming measures and/or
motorised-traffic-free access route through.
4. Improve the Lewes Road cycle path route especially round the
building sites to enable access from Bevendean, Moulescoombe and
Coldean.
This ePetition ran from 01/05/2020 to 22/06/2020 and has now finished.
912 people signed this ePetition.
Council response
Councillors and officers have been working very hard and at a quick pace to develop and deliver a programme of active and sustainable measures to help people move around and enjoy our fantastic city during the initial Covid-19 lockdown period. We started at the earliest, possible opportunity, before many other authorities, and we are now working to various recent government guidelines as well as standard statutory legislation. The introduction of the Madeira Drive closure and the temporary Old Shoreham Road cycle lane have been good to see and earlier this month we submitted more proposals to the Government’s Department for Transport for the Emergency Active Travel Fund initiative. We are awaiting a response from our initial submission and will announce this as soon as we can. I very much hope that it will be a positive one and we will secure almost £600,000 pounds.
You have made some specific requests and suggestions in your petition and some of these are included in our bid to the Government or the work already undertaken. These include pavement widening on St James’s Street and London Road, cycle lanes on Old Shoreham Road and the A259 seafront road, closing Madeira Drive Terrace to motor traffic, as well as reviewing traffic signals to ensure pedestrian waiting times are minimised. In addition, we work closely with Sussex Police to identify problem areas and proactive campaigns for speed reduction.